Andrew Shanbarger

EDTC630

3/1/15

AUP Critique and Presentation

Part I.
Presentation of CCBOEs AUP is available at http://youtu.be/nqqKlSUouCI

Part II.
Critique of Charles County Public Schools AUP
Charles County Public School has three acceptable use policies. Each policy targets
a different group of individuals and is tailored to that audience. Theses audiences
are elementary students, middle and high school students, and staff. Overall the
acceptable use policies that are geared towards students are well written for their
audiences and includes language and uses that would be common to those targets.
These two policies are also rather general in their statements and leaves leeway for
an educator to instruct students on how to use the school systems resources.
The main correction or change I would recommend for these two policies would be
to include language that regulates non-Charles County Public School devices. In the
past two years, Charles County Public Schools has piloted a bring your own device
program, and none of those policies have made it into the acceptable use policy for
students. Charles County Public Schools does have very limited policies for the
bring your own device pilot programs on their website at
http://www.ccboe.com/byod/. A subsection, adapted from the Charles County
Websites BYOD policy, should be made to the acceptable use policy to include:
1. Bring Your Own Device Policies (BYOD)
a. Allowed Devices
i. Laptops
ii. Netbooks
iii. Tablets
iv. e-Readers
v. smartphones
vi. iPods or other MP3/Video player
b. Students may use their devices when
i. instructed by the teacher.
ii. to complete in-class activities
iii. check grades
iv. collaborate with other students and teachers
v. complete homework
vi. conduct research, access websites with curriculum-related content
vii. keep track of classroom assignments
viii. and record journal entries
ix. other approved instructional activities.
c. Allowed locations
i. in classes where the teacher/school has permitted them.

Andrew Shanbarger
EDTC630

3/1/15

AUP Critique and Presentation

ii. Unless otherwise noted, devices are not to be used in open areas (hallways,
cafeteria, locker rooms, bathrooms, stairwells, etc.)
d. Charles County Public Schools will not provide technical assistance with the
exception of providing the name of the wireless network.

The staff policy is much more specific than the student policies and however it still
provides some leeway for professional judgment. The acceptable use policy for
staff, forbids staff to install any unauthorized software or hardware, or disable or
modify security settings installed on any computer (Employee manual). However,
there is not a procedure readily known or available to the staff to obtain permission
to install specific software or hardware for educational purposes.
Also in the staff policy there are statements protecting Charles County Public
Schools from information found on the internet. This is very reasonable, since the
school system cannot be expected to control what is found on any given site,
however in the same subsection employees are made responsible for ensuring
access to the network is for educational or business purposes only (Employee
manual). This statement could be made clearer and fairer by requiring employees
be entirely responsible for their own access and required to encourage students to
also only access the network for these purposes. A librarian at a high school cannot
be expected to monitor all computers in the library at all times. It is impractical and
would result in the librarian being unable to complete any other work.
Overall, the staff policy is well organized and relatively easy to follow. As with the
student policies, the staff policy could have a subsection on bring your own device.
At this point the staff policy states, Technology equipment (personal computers,
laptops, tablets, printers, etc.) that are not the property of Charles County Public
Schools are not allowed to be used at any CCPS location(Employee manual). This
statement is in complete contradiction to the new policies being developed in the
county.
The final change that needs to occur is to update the language in reference to
specific technical terms. The policy refers to AOL, Hotbar, and Comet Cursor as
unauthorized software. None of these softwares are good examples and should be
replaced either with more generic terms or with software that is more up to date,
such as Google Chrome, browsers, video players, and search bars.
While in general all three policies are in fairly good standing, the consequences to
not following the rules are not well written out. In all three policies only the
harshest punishment possible is even listed. The only listed consequence for
students is suspension to the Superintendent with a recommendation for
expulsion (Code of student conduct). The only listed consequence for employees is
dismissal. The purpose of this vagueness is so that Charles County Public Schools

Andrew Shanbarger
EDTC630

3/1/15

AUP Critique and Presentation

may have the ability to admonish the violator as it sees fit, however standards
should be set forth, much as there are already standards for in school behavior
infractions.

References
BYOD. (2013). Retrieved February 28, 2015, from http://www.ccboe.com/byod/
Code of students conduct. (2014). Retrieved February 28, 2015, from
http://www.ccboe.com/forms/CodeofConduct.pdf
Employee manual. (2012, September 1). Retrieved February 28, 2015, from
http://www2.ccboe.com/PDF/employee_manual.pdf